USAC recap – Jan. 10

The Undergraduate Students Association Council is the official student government representing the undergraduate student body at UCLA. Council meetings take place every week on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Kerckhoff 417 and are open to all students. Watch a livestream of the meetings on the USAC Live! YouTube channel.

Special Presentations

• UCPD Lt. Kevin Kilgore said that although recreational marijuana has been legal in California since Jan. 1, it continues to be prohibited on campus. He said UCPD is hosting a town hall with the Academic Affairs Commission on Jan. 17 to facilitate dialogue on interactions between the community and police officers. Although students can now use their preferred names on BruinCards, Kilgore said UCPD is working on making sure it can still find students’ legal names in databases in case of emergency.

Agenda:

• The council passed a resolution introduced by the office of the External Vice President in support of the Westwood Forward Coalition, which is advocating for a new neighborhood council for Westwood.
• The council allocated a total of $5,890 to student groups from the Contingency Programming Fund. The council also allocated $800 from the Student Wellness Programming Fund to student groups.
• The council appointed Tony Tran, a second-year financial actuarial mathematics student, and Dominic Chaloeisak, a third-year international development studies student, as members of the Academic Success Referendum.

Reports

• USAC President Arielle Mokhtarzadeh said that a Mezuzah, a Jewish religious display, outside her office was vandalized over winter break.
• External Vice President Chloe Pan said her office traveled to Washington D.C. over winter break to lobby lawmakers in Congress to support protections for undocumented individuals and to engage in civil disobedience.
• Facilities Commissioner Zahra Hajee said her office’s finals week study space in Pauley Pavilion attracted over 200 students per night. She said she plans to continue the program in the future.
• Financial Supports Commissioner Aaron Boudaie said his office is hosting a discussion with the vice president of the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education about accessibility to higher education.
• General Representative 2 Kayla He said her office is advocating for a reduction to the iSTART fee, an additional cost international students must pay for summer orientation.
• Academic Affairs Commissioner Divya Sharma said his office met with students after the Skirball Fire to develop contingency plans for future emergencies that maintain students’ safety while minimally disrupting their school schedules.
• Community Service Commissioner Adriana Hardwicke said her office offered two alternative break trips over winter break. Alternative breaks are a CSC program which send students around the country over breaks to complete issue-oriented community service projects. She said that alternative break trips used to only be held during spring break. Hardwicke added her office is also hosting a “Meeting in the Middle” week during week two to inform more students about mental health of volunteers and the people they help.
• Transfer student representative Sayron Stokes said her office will release their transfer scholarship applications at the end of week two.